Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

40 minutes ago, Albert said:

You're buying Atari?

 

 ..Al

I hope so...that render of the console did look cool.  

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Troll droppings??   HAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!

I'm totally using that! 

Maybe a new game title? 

I am living for the day that I can load up Troll Droppings and heroically vanquish toxic poop on my classic  wood grain Amico. Can’t wait to see what the in-store physical media is for that one  

6 hours ago, ASalvaro said:

well we are 14 months away..i think we are lucky to be even getting this much so far from launch

at first i wish the clips of the games were longer but then the more i thought about it the more i remember the excitement

of not knowing what a game was like when i bought it aside from the screen shots and the reviews in magazines

for instance the game i'm most looking forward to is a remake of Imagics Beauty & The Beast.. i would rather not see

a game play video at all before i buy it and have the excitement of playing the game based on nothing but a screen shot!

Okay... I guess joking isn't allowed here. 

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I am living for the day that I can load up Troll Droppings and heroically vanquish toxic poop on my classic  wood grain Amico. Can’t wait to see what the in-store physical media is for that one  

Or the associated swag!

11 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

They wish.

Or should I say... the BACKERS wish? 

Yeah, the best outcome any backer could expect at this point would be to get an Amico for their backer money, but they deserve whatever they get at this point. Caveat emptor.

13 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Or the associated swag!

Through my deep mole source at IE I was able to grab an early screen cap of Troll Droppings and prototype physical media product shot.

Tommy one suggestion...PLEASE no forced tutorials..that's one of the things i hate about a lot of modern games..where they make you play a long tutorial first..i understand the need for tutorials these days but it should be up to you if you want to use it 

16 minutes ago, ASalvaro said:

Tommy one suggestion...PLEASE no forced tutorials..that's one of the things i hate about a lot of modern games..where they make you play a long tutorial first..i understand the need for tutorials these days but it should be up to you if you want to use it 

Given the nature of these games, I bet most of them won't have or require tutorials.  But Tommy of course could better address this issue. 

 ..Al

7 hours ago, ASalvaro said:

Tommy one suggestion...PLEASE no forced tutorials..that's one of the things i hate about a lot of modern games..where they make you play a long tutorial first..i understand the need for tutorials these days but it should be up to you if you want to use it 

Every game will ship with this specific tutorial.

Every.  Single.  Game.

9 hours ago, ASalvaro said:

Tommy one suggestion...PLEASE no forced tutorials..that's one of the things i hate about a lot of modern games..where they make you play a long tutorial first..i understand the need for tutorials these days but it should be up to you if you want to use it 

Totally agree 100%!  If the game can't be described on one screen in the beginning... then it probably has no place on our system. 

There will always be exceptions to the rule (Utopia comes to mind)... but for the most part... gotta be able to explain the game to someone within 10 - 15 seconds.  It's actually one of our 10 commandments for Amico.

33 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Totally agree 100%!  If the game can't be described on one screen in the beginning... then it probably has no place on our system. 

There will always be exceptions to the rule (Utopia comes to mind)... but for the most part... gotta be able to explain the game to someone within 10 - 15 seconds.  It's actually one of our 10 commandments for Amico.

 

 

awesome! 

10 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

Every game will ship with this specific tutorial.

 

Every.  Single.  Game.

 

 

That was the best 1:41:15 I’ve spent in a long time.

This is my most anticipated console in a very long time. I do like modern games, but I will buy this before I even consider the next Sony/Microsoft consoles. 

The console design, controllers, family and fun focus, and game lineup are all outstanding. I own and collect for the majority of U.S. released game consoles, and I can safely say that this has great potential.

I have one important question for Tommy. As an owner of the Ouya (I know this is different) and various delisted digital games, my concern is for the future. As a collector, I want to keep all of my old consoles, and still play the games well into the future. Even a big, successful company may have to eventually stop supporting a project, or lose a particular license. What assurances can be given to customers that games will not be restricted by DRM or no longer available after the console's life cycle? I feel like this is the only thing holding back digital only downloads. 

I know the Ouya is in some ways a bad example, but with the store gone, and aggressive DRM on many of the games, people who legitimately own those games can no longer play them. If the Amico team committed to freeing all purchased content in the event of the store closing, I really think this machine would be a big hit. Without that worry, and the affordable price and great game selection, it would be hard to beat. Just my two cents. I'm buying one no matter what. However, I could see myself investing significantly more on games knowing they are secure and that I'll never lose access.

17 minutes ago, Noah98 said:

This is my most anticipated console in a very long time. I do like modern games, but I will buy this before I even consider the next Sony/Microsoft consoles. 

 

The console design, controllers, family and fun focus, and game lineup are all outstanding. I own and collect for the majority of U.S. released game consoles, and I can safely say that this has great potential.

 

I have one important question for Tommy. As an owner of the Ouya (I know this is different) and various delisted digital games, my concern is for the future. As a collector, I want to keep all of my old consoles, and still play the games well into the future. Even a big, successful company may have to eventually stop supporting a project, or lose a particular license. What assurances can be given to customers that games will not be restricted by DRM or no longer available after the console's life cycle? I feel like this is the only thing holding back digital only downloads. 

 

I know the Ouya is in some ways a bad example, but with the store gone, and aggressive DRM on many of the games, people who legitimately own those games can no longer play them. If the Amico team committed to freeing all purchased content in the event of the store closing, I really think this machine would be a big hit. Without that worry, and the affordable price and great game selection, it would be hard to beat. Just my two cents. I'm buying one no matter what. However, I could see myself investing significantly more on games knowing they are secure and that I'll never lose access.

Tommy keeps hinting at physical media of some form or fashion. So I think it will be okay. But he would be better able to answer. I am guessing he can't quite say yet.

Wow.. As someone who bought the HP48sx somewhere around 1989 or something, I never really understood it, and ended up mostly using it for just basic calculations. I could have used that video!

59 minutes ago, NE146 said:

Wow.. As someone who bought the HP48sx somewhere around 1989 or something, I never really understood it, and ended up mostly using it for just basic calculations. I could have used that video!

Off topic from the Amico, but if you have an Android phone, you can install Emu48 to emulate an HP 48 SX or GX on your phone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.emulator.forty.eight

16 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

Every game will ship with this specific tutorial.

 

Every.  Single.  Game.

 

 

RPN calculating, the only way to go.

7 hours ago, Noah98 said:

This is my most anticipated console in a very long time. I do like modern games, but I will buy this before I even consider the next Sony/Microsoft consoles. 

 

The console design, controllers, family and fun focus, and game lineup are all outstanding. I own and collect for the majority of U.S. released game consoles, and I can safely say that this has great potential.

 

I have one important question for Tommy. As an owner of the Ouya (I know this is different) and various delisted digital games, my concern is for the future. As a collector, I want to keep all of my old consoles, and still play the games well into the future. Even a big, successful company may have to eventually stop supporting a project, or lose a particular license. What assurances can be given to customers that games will not be restricted by DRM or no longer available after the console's life cycle? I feel like this is the only thing holding back digital only downloads. 

 

I know the Ouya is in some ways a bad example, but with the store gone, and aggressive DRM on many of the games, people who legitimately own those games can no longer play them. If the Amico team committed to freeing all purchased content in the event of the store closing, I really think this machine would be a big hit. Without that worry, and the affordable price and great game selection, it would be hard to beat. Just my two cents. I'm buying one no matter what. However, I could see myself investing significantly more on games knowing they are secure and that I'll never lose access.

Great question.

All games that you buy will be stored on your internal hard drive which can be expanded if needed.  So you won't need to worry.  There is still a lot of testing going on (and the games still being made) but we're hoping to have at least 30 - 50 games storable on the internal hard drive.

Yet another GREAT advantage of keeping everything simple, 2.5D and not open world, huge 50 million dollar 2 disc projects. 

12 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Great question.

 

All games that you buy will be stored on your internal hard drive which can be expanded if needed.  So you won't need to worry.  There is still a lot of testing going on (and the games still being made) but we're hoping to have at least 30 - 50 games storable on the internal hard drive.

Yet another GREAT advantage of keeping everything simple, 2.5D and not open world, huge 50 million dollar 2 disc projects. 

 

 

Thanks for the response Tommy! Can the games be backed up as well?

10 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Great question.

 

All games that you buy will be stored on your internal hard drive which can be expanded if needed.  So you won't need to worry.  There is still a lot of testing going on (and the games still being made) but we're hoping to have at least 30 - 50 games storable on the internal hard drive.

Yet another GREAT advantage of keeping everything simple, 2.5D and not open world, huge 50 million dollar 2 disc projects. 

 

 

Now what about the physical media sales?  If I purchase all the games via physical media (I love retail packaging as an old gamer from the 70's and early 80's... aren't most of us here?) will they require to be stored on the system's hard drive or can they play off the 'cart' (for lack of a better term)?

Another reason to purchase physical would be for the next Utopia game as I am hoping that there will be a small manual which has been sorely missing from the current generation of games.  A little artwork and something to read while waiting at the mall for the Mrs. to do her shopping would be a treat (not to mention, take me back to reading manuals to new games in the backseat of the car on the way home).

Regardless, I'm excited to see how things develop in the next 13 months and change. 

20 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

Every game will ship with this specific tutorial.

 

Every.  Single.  Game.

 

 

If there was any justice, this post would win "AtariAge most liked post of the day" award.  What I got out of that video:  Pretty sure my fav amiga with video toaster was the star here

As I follow and contribute on this thread something dawned on me..   Tommy is doing a great job on answering our questions, something that really doesn't happen from bigger companies at all with their communities.  I mean I was not a hard sell for the idea since the beginning but after his involvement in this board and his obvious passion he has for this I am, hopefully like others, have become an advocate for the awareness of Amico to my friends and family.

I also hope this board has helped him and his team understand the "gaps" in communication and where at least "some customers" are coming from as we on this board most likely do not represent all of this clientele.  I would hope that his team continues to utilize this board and users to help shape future games and concepts for Amico, as from what I have seen, when the board works with a developer usually the game or idea they are building turns out to be much better than what the original developer intended.  

The way I see it, if a group of interested folks like us, who knew and grew up with the Intellivision and understand his vision, still have so many questions, then I can only imagine those folks who did not benefit from that background may have.  I hope that data is useful to them.

I really want this console to succeed as it seems like the first modern console in a long time that I, and my friends, are actually very excited about.  It seems to have the passion and understanding of exactly what I was looking for in a modern console.

2 hours ago, imstarryeyed said:

As I follow and contribute on this thread something dawned on me..   Tommy is doing a great job on answering our questions, something that really doesn't happen from bigger companies at all with their communities.  I mean I was not a hard sell for the idea since the beginning but after his involvement in this board and his obvious passion he has for this I am, hopefully like others, have become an advocate for the awareness of Amico to my friends and family.

 

I agree Tommy has really communicated his passion with this community and hopefully we are helping at least in honing the message and being reasonable advocates for the platform against knee jerk dismissals by the pundits.

Of course a lot of the questions we have are because Tommy can’t announce the full vision due to the need to keep some marketing hype back - and I am sure some things are still in flux a year out too.

Also we really aren’t the core demographic for the Amico but instead often are typically focused on retro gaming/collecting which means we are interested in certain features WAY more than most people would be.  I appreciate that they are including the OG Intellivision games and some form of physical games as a nod to this community. Physical games might have an important sales role outside of this group but the OG games really is just honoring the Intellivision history a bit.

Overall I do want to say a huge “Thank You” to Tommy for trusting this community enough to involve us in the early days of the Amico launch. After all I hear the proper way to do it is to announce the product then just about go into pre-orders but cancel that, fire everyone involved, wait a year and then really launch pre-orders, take everyone’s money, and ignore all forms of regular communication except to announce a series of delays (each one claiming to improve a product which hasn’t come into existence yet). Bonus points for hiring a key engineer who is both accident prone & has dangerous hobbies - but Tommy is new to this and so can be forgiven.

If you can say anything, at the very least they are being smart about it, unlike some other unconsole shills in the last few years.

On 8/25/2019 at 12:32 AM, Lathe26 said:

Every game will ship with this specific tutorial.

 

Every.  Single.  Game.

 

 

Well, it makes sense that every game would involve calculating the inverse tangent of log base 6 in octadecimal.